postmodern views on koh-ping and adapting

Hope & Fear

My good and dear friend sent an essay from the March 2009 issue of the Shambhala Sun, “The Place Beyond Hope and Fear,” by Margaret Wheatley – at a time when I find myself marinating in the space between hope and fear.

Here are excerpts from the essay that really resonated with me:

“The present moment is the only place of clear seeing unclouded by hope or fear. The nineteenth-century Tibetan master Patrul Rinpoche stated this perfectly: “Don’t prolong the past, don’t invite the future, don’t be deceived by appearances, just dwell in present awareness.” Of course, trying to be present when everything around you is crashing down is not easy, but then, nothing is these days. It takes enormous effort and discipline to keep recalling ourselves back to the present moment…”

“Yet only in the present moment, free from hope and fear, do we receive the gifts of clarity and resolve.”